[Advaita-l] Siva and Sakti

[Venkata sriram P]

Masculine principle robustness, strength, toughness whereas feminine principle represents elegance, gaity, beauty, tenderness.  When both principles combine together, "pUrNatva" is achieved.  Only when tANDava of shiva and lAsya of shakti join together, a perfect rythm is achieved. 

Now, regarding the upAsana of strI and puruSa dEvatAs, it is the bhAvukata of the upAsaka which is most important.  Generally, it is advisable for the puruSa upAsakAs to worshop puruSa dEvatAs because of the contemplation on dhyAna mUrti.  

Extreme piousness should be exercised and demonstrated by the upAsaka while meditating on the upAsya dEvata.  And there is every danger that upAsaka may get distracted with the physical appearance and anatomy of the upAsya dEvata.  

For instance, when a puruSa upAsaka is meditating on dEvi's form, it so happens that while visualizing dEvi's physical form, one may accidentally exercise "tuccha kAma bhAva" at the sight of dEvI's anatomy.  This is infact the real test which would be actually put to sAdhakAs.  And i have practically seen couple of upAsakAs getting mentally deranged who were unable to withstand this tuccha kAma bhAvana.  

Similarly, with strI upAsakAs also.  They are generally adviced to worship strI mUrties like mangalagauri, tulasi, varalakshmi, katyayani etc.  

ON THE FLIP SIDE:

The pratipakSa bhAvana ie., puruSa upAsaka meditating on strI dEvata and strI upAsaki meditating on puruSa dEvata confers upAsana siddhi quickly because kAma-vikArAs can be sublimated easily with the grace of upAsya dEvata.  For instance, a puruSa can mentally visualise all the stris around to be the relections of Divine Mother thereby "pUjya bhAvana" towards para-stri can be achieved; similarly for the stri too.  They can visualise the puruSAs around as the reflections of shiva, krishna, rAma etc. thereby "pUjya bhAvana" towards puruSAs can be achieved.  

So, all these are upAsanAs rahasyAs which mainly depend upon the mental maturity of the upAsaka.  Ultimately, it is guru-anugraha which is most important who knows what is most suitable for his disciple by assessing his energy levels.

regs,
sriram